By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
A weapon capable of massive destructive power …. fired out from beneath the surface of the ocean off the coast of California, when the Navy’s USS Louisiana ballistic missile submarine launched an unarmed, nuclear-capable Trident II D5LE.
While the weapon was of course unarmed, the firing was the latest readiness test of the Pentagon’s undersea leg of the nuclear trial in support of strategic nuclear deterrence. The concept is as simple as it is paradoxical in a way, ensuring massive retaliatory destruction for any nation-state which launches a nuclear attack on the United States.
Peace through power and the promise of complete annihilation may seem contradictory, yet the idea is the conceptual foundation of nuclear-deterrence in the modern age. Therefore, US Navy Strategic System Program makes a regular point to ensure readiness and operational effectiveness of its undersea nuclear weapons capability .. to remind potential adversaries that any nuclear attack upon the US will result in their complete destruction.
Nuclear armed submarines quietly and secretly patrol the deep, dark corners of the ocean from strategic leverage points in position to attack and destroy major targets with nuclear weapons if necessary. The USS Louisiana fired its “test-missile” at the Western Test Range off the coast of San Diego, California Sept. 27.
“The sea-based leg makes up the majority – approximately 70 percent – of the U.S.’s deployed strategic nuclear deterrent Triad. The SLBM is the most survivable leg of the triad, provides a persistent presence, and allows for flexible concepts of operations,” a Navy essay on the test-firing writes.
Trident II D5 Life-Extension
Firing the Trident II D5 Life Extension missile is quite significant as well, given that the 1990s-era missile has been upgraded into a new “life-extension” variant designed to preserve the weapons functionality decades into the future.
An interesting Navy essay on the firing of the missile explained that the Trident II D5 is the “deployed system” for the remaining service life of the Ohio-class submarines and UK Vanguard-class SSBNs. The Trident II D5LE will also arm the first of the emerging Columbia-class next-generation nuclear-armed submarines and the UK Dreadnought-class submarines. The Navy essay referred to the test launch as a Demonstration and Shakedown Operation, designated DASO-32.
“The primary objective of a DASO is to evaluate and demonstrate the readiness of the SSBN’s strategic weapon system and crew before operational deployment following the submarine’s midlife refueling overhaul or as part of new construction,” the Navy essay writes.
While the Navy may ultimately engineer a replacement for its 1980s era Trident II D5, the missile is being modernized with improved electronics, firing circuitry and targeting technology to arm the emerging Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines.
The new, life-extended variant of the weapon, called the Trident II D5LE, was first installed in 2017, arming the fleet with an upgraded weapon slated to serve well into the 2040s and beyond.
Within the last several years, the Navy has acquired more than 100 Trident II D5 missiles in order to strengthen the inventory for testing and further technological development. The 130,000-pound Trident II D5 missile can travel 20,000-feet per second, according to Navy figures.
The “Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists” further describes the weapon — “The Trident D5s carry three types of warheads: the W76/Mk-4, the 100-kiloton W76-1/Mk-4A, and the W88/Mk-5 warhead, the highest-yield ballistic missile warhead in the U.S. arsenal.”
The three-stage ballistic missile can travel a nominal range of 4,000 nautical miles and carry multiple independently targeted reentry bodies, according to Navy and Lockheed information.
Kris Osborn is President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
